AFRL’s Invent Program Tackles Aircraft System Efficiency

By Graham Warwick
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology

Graham Warwick, Washington

What began as a program to tackle heat issues on stealth fighters is evolving into the centerpiece of a U.S. initiative to address aircraft energy demands, and leading the drive toward engineering methods based on dynamic models.

At the heart of the Energy Optimized Aircraft (EOA) national plan will be the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology (Invent) program, which is developing adaptive, smart aircraft power systems using model-based design.

Invent will be one of four core technical products of the EOA plan. The program’s goal is to integrate hybrid-electric systems to maximize energy efficiency, minimize thermal challenges, and provide power and cooling on demand, based on the duty cycles of individual aircraft systems.

The Pentagon’s EOA plan will set the goals for a broader technology initiative to enable energy-efficient aircraft with enhanced operational capabilities, minimized thermal constraints and increased power growth capacity.